Fear and loathing

I can't exactly disagree with Eugene Robinson.

I remember the conservative movement and the Republican party being a lot more hopeful and confident in America 30 years ago back when the Gipper was elected president and it was 'Morning in America'. There was a renewed hope and faith in the American dream and the knowledge that we could and would win the Cold War. Back then, it was mainly the left who was playing up the fear factor and trying to scare people of the 'aggressive' president and the Armageddon that might surely follow if he won another term.

These days, it seems that both parties have embraced fear and are choosing to wallow in it.

The right seems to be in a constant fear of the Other (fill in the blank), an ever shifting group of nefarious individuals who are so close to overthrowing America and our way of life that if they (fill in the blank), it's all over and we might as well lay down and die.

The left establishment seems to be very afraid of, well, itself and the American people. While I find many personal examples of articulate liberals who are willing to argue and debate their ideas and show some sort of backbone, their leaders seem to be completely unable or unwilling to do the same in the public sphere, which leads me to assume that they are either secretly ashamed of their own ideas, or afraid of rejection by the public.

And sadly, America is worse off for it.